Wednesday, April 13, 2016

BURBANK,
CA, April 12, 2016 – Warner Bros. Pictures showcased an impressive
lineup of talents and highly anticipated films at this year’s
CinemaCon, which generated tremendous excitement for the Studio’s
wide-ranging slate. Chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara opened the
program and announced that Ben Affleck—who will again play the role
of Batman in the upcoming Justice League movie—will direct, as well
as star in, a new stand-alone Batman feature.

The
Studio’s presentation was highlighted by trailers and film
clips—including some never-before-seen footage—and appearances by
some of the major stars and filmmakers involved in each of the
movies. It also served to illustrate Tsujihara’s statement about
the diversity of the slate: built on the foundation of the key
franchises of DC Super Heroes, animated LEGO® features,
and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” but also
encompassing a broad scope of dramas, action adventures, horror
thrillers and comedies.

STORKS
(Andy Samberg and the rest of the cast and directors of Storks)

There
were also speeches from Sue Kroll, in her new post as Warner Bros.
Pictures President of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, and
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, who was recently named President of
Worldwide Distribution.

Remarking
on the Warner Bros. event, Kroll said, “CinemaCon is always one of
the high points of our year: when we get to introduce our upcoming
slate to our partners in the exhibition community who are responsible
for bringing our films to audiences worldwide. It was wonderful to
have this opportunity to showcase the broad range of films Warner
Bros. has on the horizon, as well as some of the extraordinary
artists behind them.”

Kwan
Vandenberg added, “We appreciated the enthusiastic participation of
actors and filmmakers from every title, who added tremendous star
power to the presentation. CinemaCon gives us a chance to reinforce
our commitment to the big-screen experience on a global level.”

Kicking
off the film presentation with a bang, Ben Affleck and Amy Adams
introduced a thrilling reel spotlighting the Studio’s ambitious
slate of DC films. The roster includes the new Justice League film,
as well as stand-alone features for Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman
and Cyborg. Director Zack Snyder closed the reel with a greeting from
the Justice League film set, surrounded by his stars.

WAR
DOGS (Bradley Cooper and Director Todd Phillips)

The
DC preview also included a glimpse of the summer’s hotly
anticipated action adventure “Suicide Squad” and, immediately
following, writer/director David Ayer took the stage and introduced
the main ensemble cast, led by Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie
and Joel Kinnaman. The extended version of the “Suicide Squad”
trailer was met with loud applause and the buzz surrounding the film
was palpable.

Host
Mario Lopez then took the attendees through the rest of the summer
line-up, including advance footage from the wide range of titles. The
stars and filmmakers who excited the crowd about their upcoming films
included: Russell Crowe for the action comedy “The Nice Guys”;
Emilia Clarke for the drama “Me Before You” (from New Line Cinema
and Metro-Goldwyn Mayer); James Wan, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson
for the supernatural thriller “The Conjuring 2” (from New Line
Cinema); Teresa Palmer and David F. Sandberg for the horror thriller
“Lights Out” (from New Line Cinema); Kevin Hart and Rawson
Marshall Thurber for the action comedy “Central Intelligence”
(from New Line Cinema and Universal Pictures), which included a taped
greeting from Dwayne Johnson; Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie,
Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz for the adventure “The Legend
of Tarzan” (from Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures); and
Todd Phillips and Bradley Cooper for the comedic drama “War Dogs,”
which is based on real events.

Looking
past the summer, Warner Bros. unveiled some of the films on the
drawing board from the Warner Animation Group, or WAG for short.
Three of the brilliant minds in the WAG think tank—Christopher
Miller, Phil Lord and Nicholas Stoller—came to the stage to
introduce a special reel featuring a few of the titles in the
pipeline, anchored by three new films in the LEGO® movie
franchise: “The LEGO® Batman Movie,” “The
LEGO® Movie 2” and “Ninjago.” Stoller, who
co-directed the next WAG film on the slate, “Storks,” was joined
by fellow director Doug Sweetland and voice talents Andy Samberg and
Katie Crown to present new footage from the heartwarming and
hilarious family adventure.

THE
CONJURING 2 (Director James Wan with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson)

The
animation portion wrapped with never-before-seen footage from “The
LEGO® Batman Movie,” which gives the breakout star
of the hit “The LEGO® Movie” a film of his own.
Drawing laughter and enthusiastic applause, the clip was presented by
producers Lord and Miller, joined by the voice of LEGO® Batman
himself, Will Arnett, who made a surprise appearance to the delight
of everyone there.

ME
BEFORE YOU (Emilia Clarke)

Warner
Bros. closed the presentation with a look at the most magical film of
the year, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” written
by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, which will
bring moviegoers to a new place and time in the wizarding world. Four
of the film’s stars, Eddie Redmayne, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler and
Colin Farrell, came to the stage to introduce the new teaser trailer
and a look behind the scenes of the film, which has already
captivated fans.